The Last Night in the Real World
Reina's journey home from school felt a little different that day.
Throughout the trip, her thoughts kept returning to Cosmia Online. She had spent hours playing the game the night before, but most of that time had been spent wandering around Belio City, talking to NPCs, and figuring out just how similar it was to Kosmik Online.
The similarities had exceeded even her expectations.
Reina still remembered most of the places she had seen. The locations of the NPCs, the route to the city gates, several early quests, and even the arrangement of the buildings all felt incredibly familiar. She had been so caught up in nostalgia that she hadn't even had the chance to hunt Mostro or level up her character.
Tonight would be different.
The update for the Main Quest: Cosmia History was complete, and Reina couldn't wait to begin her adventure in earnest.
Tanaka went home in an equally good mood. His conversation with Reina at school had been a development he never expected. After trying to get closer to her for so long, it turned out that an old game was what finally gave them something they could talk about at length.
The same was true for Rian, Mina, Yukio, and Hana. The four students were looking forward to experiencing a classic MMORPG together for the first time.
But they weren't the only ones.
That night, hundreds of players from different places were preparing to enter Cosmia Online.
None of them knew that this would be the last night they would ever play Cosmia Online as a game.
Reina's apartment looked different from the night before.
Several bags of snacks covered the table beside her computer. Cans of drinks had been prepared so she wouldn't have to get up too often. Reina herself had already showered and was now sitting comfortably in her gaming chair.
In front of her, the update progress finally reached one hundred percent.
UPDATE COMPLETE
Main Quest: COSMIA HISTORY
“It's done.”
Reina immediately put on her headset.
Click!
The login screen appeared.
She entered her account information, then selected the character she had created the night before.
XOXO
Rogue
[PLAY GAME]
Click!
The familiar background music immediately filled her headset. The melody was almost identical to the one she remembered hearing whenever she played Kosmik Online.
A short cutscene played before XOXO appeared at the Belio Altar.
Unlike the previous night, Belio City was now much more crowded. Dozens of characters moved around the altar, while other players gathered near NPCs to receive quests.
Before Reina could move very far, a male character wearing armor and carrying a shield approached her.
The name above his head immediately told Reina who the player was.
Taka
XOXO stopped in front of him.
A speech bubble appeared.
XOXO: “You chose Knight?”
A reply quickly appeared.
Taka: “Yeah. I thought it looked really cool. I like the shield too.”
Reina smiled slightly in front of her monitor.
Tanaka had actually kept his word and joined her in the game.
However, Reina's attention soon shifted toward a group of players not far from them.
Four characters stood together, each experimenting with their character's movements.
Mina.
A female Cleric wearing beginner equipment.
Riz.
A male Warrior carrying a greatsword.
Yux.
A Craftman.
And finally, a female Mage named Han.
“Whoa, this is really cool! I love the armor. This greatsword looks awesome too, even though it's only a starting weapon.”
Riz seemed to be the most excited among them. His character repeatedly drew and sheathed his sword just to watch the animation.
Meanwhile, Yux was busy running circles around his three friends.
“This job really is perfect for me. I'll be able to make all kinds of stuff later.”
Mina and Han didn't think too much about their job mechanics. Both were casual players who had joined because they wanted to play with their friends. For now, they had simply chosen Cleric and Mage because those jobs seemed to suit the kind of characters they wanted to play.
XOXO watched them for quite a while.
Then she sent Taka a private message through the whisper feature.
XOXO → Taka: “I feel like I know them.”
A reply appeared a few seconds later.
Taka → XOXO: “Your students?”
Reina frowned slightly.
XOXO → Taka: “You recognize them too?”
Taka → XOXO: “Their conversation sounds familiar. I heard them talking in the hallway after school earlier. Especially that Craftman. It sounded like he'd already decided on his job before he even installed the game.”
Reina looked at the four characters again.
Now she was even more certain.
Riz was Rian.
Mina had simply kept her real name.
Yux was Yukio.
And Han was Hana.
Reina suddenly felt a little awkward.
She had never imagined she would run into her own students inside the same game.
More importantly, none of them knew who XOXO really was.
XOXO → Taka: “Don't tell them who I am.”
There was no response for several seconds.
Then a message appeared.
Taka → XOXO: “Why?”
Reina stared at the screen.
XOXO → Taka: “I don't want them to know their teacher is playing the same game as them.”
Taka → XOXO: “I think they'd actually be happy about it.”
XOXO → Taka: “Just don't tell them.”
Taka → XOXO: “All right.”
Reina felt slightly relieved.
For now, in this world, she didn't want to be Ms. Reina.
She just wanted to be XOXO.
The night grew later.
More and more players continued to enter Cosmia Online. The Belio Altar flashed with light again and again as new players appeared. The city's streets were filled with characters of various jobs, while NPCs scattered throughout the city stood ready to offer guidance and quests to the newcomers.
Some players were busy learning the interface.
Others had begun forming parties.
A few had even left the city to hunt Mostro in the surrounding areas.
Reina opened the server information.
Players Online: 327
“Already over three hundred...”
The player count was growing much faster than it had the previous night.
Elsewhere, Tanaka was still controlling Taka. Rian, Mina, Yukio, and Hana were also busy exploring Belio City together.
Hundreds of other players were doing the same from their respective homes.
Everything seemed like an ordinary night for a newly released game.
Until something happened in the real world.
A rumbling sound came from somewhere in the distance.
At first, it was low, almost like distant thunder. But within seconds, it grew stronger until the windows of Reina's apartment began to tremble.
Reina didn't hear it.
The headset covering her ears blocked out almost all outside noise. Her attention remained completely focused on the screen.
Then the image on her monitor flickered.
Once.
Reina frowned.
“What?”
The screen flickered again.
This time, it lasted longer.
The characters, buildings, NPCs, and the entire view of Belio City suddenly vanished.
The screen turned black.
Reina waited.
No error message appeared.
There was no server disconnection notice.
Even the game's interface was gone.
“Hmm? Is there something wrong with the server?”
Reina moved her mouse.
Nothing happened.
She pressed several keys on the keyboard, but the screen remained black.
Then the sound in her headset disappeared as well.
Silence.
At that same moment, a strange sensation spread through Reina's fingertips.
Like a tiny electric shock.
“Ah—”
Her body stiffened.
The shock traveled from her hands throughout her entire body before Reina could understand what was happening.
Her consciousness vanished in an instant.
Her head fell onto the keyboard.
Her right hand slipped from the mouse and hung limply beside the chair.
The monitor in front of her continued to display nothing but a black screen.
Outside the apartment, the same rumbling continued to shake the sky.
But Reina wasn't the only one experiencing it.
At almost the exact same moment, Tanaka lost consciousness in front of his computer.
Rian, Mina, Yukio, and Hana experienced the same thing.
So did hundreds of other players who were connected to Cosmia Online.
That night, a cosmic phenomenon of unknown origin swept across Earth.
The anomaly affected Cosmia Online's systems and servers at the exact moment hundreds of players were inside the game.
One by one, their connections were severed.
And yet, not a single one of them truly left Cosmia.
Because when Reina opened her eyes again, the first thing she would see wouldn't be her computer screen.
It would be the sky of Cosmia.